firewall/router recomendation needed

I've had experience with the SOHO. Not enough features. I've tried Zywall
and right now have a Sonicwall TZ170W. Sonicwall seems to not care to fix
any of my issues. What else is there because my sonicwall sucks in a few
ways. It is not accurate at all with reporting. You turn on reporting and it
will tell you where you go. Sometimes it won't and sometimes it will. It is
sposed to report bandwidth use and it is NEVER accurate. I'll download more
then what it says I have etc. Wireless signal kinda sucks too. It is not
compatible with xbox live which is number 1 most important. When turning on
any of the security features it just is way too slow. My internet speed
drops to half or less of my 8mb connection if I turn on the virus protection
or IPS etc. The content filtering slows me down a lot too, but not half.
What else is there that is better/doesn't have these problems? Here's what I
need though.

1: Must be Xbox 360/Xbox live compatible wired and wireless mode.
2: Wireless
3: 10/100/1000 but 10/100 is ok. 4 port switch.
4: content filtering where you select categories of stuff to block etc and
can use keywords, block ip addresses, domain names etc.
5: good firewall spi etc. want to be able to set up rules to block specific
ports and internet ips etc.
6: dynamic dns if possible, but not necessary.
7: good ips for filtering the bad guys and automatic p2p blocking etc.
8: virus protection.
9: hopefully not slow my internet down and if so then minor
10: good customer warranty support 24/7 is needed.
11: wirelss signal needs to be good cus my home has a gun case/cabinate in
it near the pc where the signal would go. hopefully the signal can be better
then my current 1 bar.
12: reporting. report how much bandwidth goes in and out via telling you
that you've downloaded 400gb or 35gb via port 80 and stuff like that.
reporting for where you go online as well and what local pcs/ip does what.
13: upnp
14: snmp
15: wpa2 and mac address filtering to only allow what i say etc.
15: wired and wireless needs to be able to talk to each other for
filesharing etc.
16: hotspot ability so guests can connect to my network which will then
forward them to an online web page directing them to email me for access to
my network/internet.
17: user accounts with special permissions such as bandwidth limits or time
of day or other stuff having to log in etc.

Now I don't have to have all these features, but the one I really have to
have is the xbox stuff and also the filtering.

I'd really appreciate help and if anyone would be able to consult with me
and help and if I bought something they recomend I don't mind trying to
return the favor via paypall or something.




AMDX2

That's a long list of features and you probably won't find all/most of those
in one single unit.... but, not sure how much of a do-it-yourself person
you are, but have you checked out the 3rd party router firmware DD-WRT?
Basically is a small Linux distro w/ a web GUI that replaces the factor
firmware in various models of routers. I'm currently running it on a
Buffalo and a Motorola WR850G. It's got a lot of features that aren't
normally found in a basic home router. Check out http://www.dd-wrt.com for
specifics but I do now that it supports xbox, change adjust wireless radio
signal strength a little, SPI firewall (not sure how customizable it is out
of the box, I'm sure you can do a lot with it over the linux command line),
snmp management support, upnp (though security-wise you should probably
leave upnp off), some firmware versions have openvpn server built in, PPTP
vpn server, vpn client builtin, there's a version with VoIP, supports
setting it up as a hotspot with support for a few different sort of hotspot
companies/websites or by "making" your own. I haven't messed with any of
the hotspot features, in a home environment I think that's a little
overkill. What I did was leave the builtin wireless on using WPA and
assigned one of the LAN ports to a separate vlan and then hung a separate
basic 802.11g router on that port and left it open for guests to use. When
they connect to it they get internet access and are assigned an IP by the
main router but in a separate subnet and can't access any of my computers
behind the main router. Also supports QoS but I don't bother with that.

Anyway, if you're comfortable playing around and spending a little time
getting something setup then that may be an option for you. I haven't
messed with any of the more "professional" and higher priced home office
firewall routers since I don't think you need to spend a lot of money on one
of those. I was able to go to Best Buy, buy a $50 buffalo wireless router,
load this firmware on it and now have more features than most. Plus I have
a second router upstairs running the same firmware setup as a wireless
bridge connected to the main router, so no wires had to be run between
devices upstairs and those downstairs.

Nick


"AMDX2" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:8EiQg.37236$(E-Mail Removed).. .
> I've had experience with the SOHO. Not enough features. I've tried Zywall
> and right now have a Sonicwall TZ170W. Sonicwall seems to not care to fix
> any of my issues. What else is there because my sonicwall sucks in a few
> ways. It is not accurate at all with reporting. You turn on reporting and
> it will tell you where you go. Sometimes it won't and sometimes it will.
> It is sposed to report bandwidth use and it is NEVER accurate. I'll
> download more then what it says I have etc. Wireless signal kinda sucks
> too. It is not compatible with xbox live which is number 1 most important.
> When turning on any of the security features it just is way too slow. My
> internet speed drops to half or less of my 8mb connection if I turn on the
> virus protection or IPS etc. The content filtering slows me down a lot
> too, but not half. What else is there that is better/doesn't have these
> problems? Here's what I need though.
>
> 1: Must be Xbox 360/Xbox live compatible wired and wireless mode.
> 2: Wireless
> 3: 10/100/1000 but 10/100 is ok. 4 port switch.
> 4: content filtering where you select categories of stuff to block etc and
> can use keywords, block ip addresses, domain names etc.
> 5: good firewall spi etc. want to be able to set up rules to block
> specific ports and internet ips etc.
> 6: dynamic dns if possible, but not necessary.
> 7: good ips for filtering the bad guys and automatic p2p blocking etc.
> 8: virus protection.
> 9: hopefully not slow my internet down and if so then minor
> 10: good customer warranty support 24/7 is needed.
> 11: wirelss signal needs to be good cus my home has a gun case/cabinate in
> it near the pc where the signal would go. hopefully the signal can be
> better then my current 1 bar.
> 12: reporting. report how much bandwidth goes in and out via telling you
> that you've downloaded 400gb or 35gb via port 80 and stuff like that.
> reporting for where you go online as well and what local pcs/ip does what.
> 13: upnp
> 14: snmp
> 15: wpa2 and mac address filtering to only allow what i say etc.
> 15: wired and wireless needs to be able to talk to each other for
> filesharing etc.
> 16: hotspot ability so guests can connect to my network which will then
> forward them to an online web page directing them to email me for access
> to my network/internet.
> 17: user accounts with special permissions such as bandwidth limits or
> time of day or other stuff having to log in etc.
>
> Now I don't have to have all these features, but the one I really have to
> have is the xbox stuff and also the filtering.
>
> I'd really appreciate help and if anyone would be able to consult with me
> and help and if I bought something they recomend I don't mind trying to
> return the favor via paypall or something.
>